THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1888. 
not altogether arniliilated, by the yearly increasing 
competition with India - 
Section I. — Canton Scented Caper. 
This description of Tea, of which the bulk of the 
Canton export consists, competes more keenly with 
Indian kinds than any other class of China Teas, 
being especially useful for mixing purposes. The com- 
petition with India is now however growing so severe, 
and home prices have reached so low a range, that 
uuless some steps are shortly taken to relieve the 
produce of the excessive burdens of likin and export 
duty, a time must arrive when scented Tea will cease 
to be an article of consumption altogether. As re- 
gards quality, the districts from which the best 
descriptions of leaf arrive, being the most remote 
from Canton, suffer most heavily from inland taxation ; 
and this induces native merchants to admix inferior 
leaf grown nearer to Canton, and suffering in con- 
sequence lighter dues. One of the greatest complaints, 
however, that buyers have to make is in respect to 
the large proportion of dust found in the Teas. The 
dust should, if possible, not be sent to Canton from 
the districts at all, as the Peking dues have to be 
paid on it as well as on the whole leaf ; and this, of 
course, increases the ultimate cost of the Tea. This 
complaint is specially to bo made about leaf arri- 
ving from the Loting and Hoyune districts. 
Section II. — Canton Scented Orange Pekoe. 
It may almost be said that this class (both the 
long and short leaf descriptions) has already been 
beaten out of the field by the success of Indian Teas ; 
this is amply proved by the significant fact that, dur- 
ing the past ten years, the export from Canton has 
fallen from 3,870,000 lbs. to 1,100,000 lbs. This de- 
crease in export continues year by year ; and it now 
seems impossible that this class of Tea can regain its 
lost position on the London markets. 
Section III. — Congous. 
Of this kind, the best Teas arrive from the Tay- 
shan districts; and, as a rule, there is a steady market 
for these in London The only suggestion that might 
be made h that better quality would be obtained if 
growers were contended with fewer pickings during 
the year. Experience has shown that Teas plucked 
in the months of August and September are deficient 
in every quality except "make," and the picking of 
the leaf in these months affects the supply as well as 
the quality of the autumn crop, which is the best 
produced from the district. 
Section IV.— Weights, 
It is worthy of remark that Teas shipped from 
Canton waters invariably lose in weight on the home- 
ward voyage, where as those shipped from Foochow 
and the northern ports always show a distinct gain. 
The remedy of this is in the hands of the Imperial 
Maritime Customs, for native packers are prepared to 
allow an extra J lb. per box, provided no export duty 
is charged on it — a concession which the Imperial 
Maritime Customs will not grant. 
Section V. — General. 
The steady fall in exchange during late years 
has been of material assistance to the China grower, 
for it has enabled Tea shippers to lay down their 
purchases in London at lower sterling prices year 
by year, while paying almost the same tael prices to 
the Chinese as formerly. The native grower must 
be looked to for any improvement in manufacture 
or production ; and as long as he feels no necessity 
for such improvement, it need not be expected. 
The members of the committee have read witkmuch in- 
terest the correspondence which has already been 
published by the Shanghai and Foochow Chambers 
of Commerce relating to the decline of the China 
Tea trade, and they heartily concur in the opinions 
expressed by these bodies, and consider that the only 
real remedy for preventing the total extinction of 
the trade is the abolition of all likin and export 
duties, so that the China article may be on the same 
footing as the Indian, Ceylon and Java, all of which 
are free from tax. — Produce Markets' Review, 
THE DEPBEC I ATION OF CHINA TEAS. 
The rapidity with which the taste for Indian and 
Ceylon Teas has spread in England is making itself 
seriously felt in the older Tea g«-owiDg country of 
China. The British Consul at Hankow, referring to 
this subject, says : - Comparing the season 1880-1881 
with that of 1886-1887, we find that the decrease in 
the exportation of China Teas was 23,800,000 lb., and the 
exportations of 1887-1888 was 20,000,000 lb. less even 
than this. The cause is evident; it is the increased 
production of better Tea in other parts of the world, 
especially in British India, Ceylon, and Java. 
The falling off in the export of China Tea is a most 
serious loss of profit to the native producer and mer- 
chant, and a loss of revenue to the Chinese Govern- 
ment. The authorities in Peking have felt the matter 
to be so grave, that the Commisioners of Customs at 
Hankow and at the other Tea exporting ports, have 
been directed to make enquiries in order to find out 
the causes of this decline, and to suggest a remedy. 
As a remit of these enquiries the following conclusions 
have been arrived at : — That Indian and Ceylon Teas 
are b.;ttar than Chinese, although the Shanghai Tea 
tasters asssert that China Tea has naturally the better 
flavour. All admit that, the Indian Teas are better 
grown and better prepared ; that they are stronger 
and stand more wateiing. On the other hand, the 
balance of evidence is in favour of the China Teas 
keeping longer than the Indian, probably because they 
have had more moisture extracted, the absence of which 
prevents fermentation. It is said, too, that the removal 
of moisture means the removal of tannin, glucose, and 
other eleme its which make Tea unwholesome, whence 
it follows that the drinking of Indian t.a, in which 
these hurtful substances exist, is more deleterious than 
the use of China Teas from which they have been 
eliminated. 
In India and Ceylon the tea plants are grown with 
an amount of care and attention which would strike 
a Chinese Tea grower as superfluous, if not ridicu'ous. 
A soil is selected at least 3 feet iu depth, so that the 
tap root of the tea plant may suck moisture from the 
subsoil in se.isons of drought. The plants are grown 
in rows, so that the bushes may touch each otner at 
the sides, while room is left at the back and front for 
the pickers to pass. Each bush is allowed to grow to 
a maximum height of 5 feet. Fertilising and pruning 
are careiully atteuded to. Toe latter is done with 
such thoroughness that as many as twelve aud six- 
teen pickiugs can be got from a single busn in a year, 
and thus an acre of ground is made to produce the 
largest obtainable crop. It is said that an acre of 
Indian tea garden will produce 600 lb. of tea annually. 
The leaves are picked before they are overgrown, 
and are bruised and rolled into balls with the hand 
that fermentation may take place. Then the balls 
are brokeu up, aud the first firing is done — if possible, 
on the very day that the leaves have been picked, in 
order to fix all the properties essentitlfor strong aud 
pungent tea. The rest of the pr< pa'atiou is all done 
by machinery and gieat care is taken to have good 
leads and packages. 
In China there is an indifference to the selection of 
proper soil, so that in seasons of drought there is a 
deficiency of sap. Old tea bushes are rarely replaced. 
Manuring, removal of under-growtb, and pruning, 
are all done in a happy-go-lucky fashion, with no idea 
that system and method are all essential if the growers 
wish to get as much tea off an acre as is produced in 
India and Ceylon. 
There is the same want of care aud of system in the 
manipulation of the tea leaf in Chuia. as there is iu the 
growth of tbe plant. Every operation is done by band 
only. Instead of bruising the leaves by roliing, the 
Chinese half dry them in the sun, and then place them 
iu bags, which are trodden until a greenish viscid fluid 
exudes, which may contain some of the best elements 
of the tea loaf. Days may elapse between the time 
of picking and of fermenting the leaf. It often happens, 
too, that the growpr instead of picking the leaves 
whi n they are fresh and in prefection, will deliberately 
wait for them to grow larger, iu order that their 
weight may be iucreased, It is stated that the late 
